Monday, July 31, 2006

Beck - Sessions At West 54th

Listen up, people! Back in 1996 I went to my first real concert: Edgefest at Darien Lake, with Beck, Ben Folds Five, Elliott Smith and some local bands on the second stage. High school pals Adam Burg and Richie Rebmann procured tickets and a ride. ES was okay; BFF was astounding. Then Beck took the stage. He's still the only artist I've seen that can start with his biggest hit ("Loser") and then outdo himself with each following song. It was like watching a white James Brown. Heck, he even did Brown's cape bit. He danced, he slid, he used a whip, he debuted a song called "(I Wanna Get With You And Your Sister) Debra", he blew a harmonica faster than a freight train, and he swung his guitar-and-strap around his body like a hula-hoop. THEN he did a 20-minute version of "Where It's At". In conclusion, I now own about 25 Beck albums and bootlegs.

Anyway, the very last stop of Beck's Odelay! tour was NYC, where his band recorded its last performance for a sadly-missed PBS show called Sessions At West 54th. Freakin' amazing. I try to put that final song from the 1996 tour--this 11-minute recording of "Where It's At"--on CD whenever anyone asks for a mix. Now, thanks to RegnYouth Archives & friends, I have finally downloaded the unedited, 71-minute performance.